Student Info

Name: Aubrey Evelo
Term: Spring 2024
Credits: 4
Title of ILC: Experimental Hive Testing

Field Supervisor

Field Supervisor: Erik Thuesen
Title: Faculty
Organization: TESC

Project Description

This independent learning contract, titled Experimental Hive Testing, will provide the student with experience designing and carrying out an experiment on honeybees. The hypothesis is that honeybees in a manmade hive constructed to mimic a natural hive will exhibit the same self-grooming and immune traits found in feral populations. To test this hypothesis, the student will develop and carry out an experiment to monitor the performance of a colony in correlation to environmental factors in a “naturally” designed hive. Data from this experiment will be compiled into a succinct written report describing the methods and results. Images and updates of the progress made during the experiment will be added to an eportfolio devoted to the project.

Learning objective	Activity	Deliverable
To learn about experimental design and entomological research methods.	I will establish a colony of honeybees in an experimental hive and monitor performance of the colony in correlation to its environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity, hive-architecture). Performance will be based upon the colony’s growth, production, pest survival, and cleaning behavior. I will write a succinct written report describing experimental methods and results.	My bi-weekly updates and final written report.